The Night Before, The Night Before
by Let-The-Wookiee-Win
Summary: Han and Leia are to be married, yay! With the wedding just around the corner, the couple spend their last evening together as singles.


_Just a little light fluff as our favourite couple approach their wedding day. Rated 'M' to be on the safe side though you've probably seen worse after the 9pm watershed, or before for that matter._

_In my world I estimate Leia is around 25 at the time of their marriage, Han is about 40._

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With her final fitting completed, Leia made her way home to the apartment she now shared with her soon-to-be husband with a very happy heart.

Her dress was exactly as she had envisioned it, preparations for both the nuptials and the honeymoon had gone smoothly and, six months in the planning, only 48 hours remained between her and marriage to the man she considered her destiny.

Their apartment...hers initially, Han had gradually moved most of his belongings in over a period of time...was in the centre of town. Convenient for Leia's work within the New Republic and just a short shuttle ride from the Hangar housing Han's first true love, his ship the Millennium Falcon.

"Hey Sweetheart," Han's deep voice rumbled as she entered their quarters, "what do you think of Rubicon?"

"If you're thinking of naming our first born Rubicon, I thought I'd made my thoughts on children very clear!" She stated, perching on the arm of their sofa and leaning in to kiss his cheek.

"Don't worry, you did. And I'm not." Han replied.

Since learning of her biological father's true identity, Leia had been very specific on the subject of children.

For her, there wouldn't be any.

No negotiation.

No discussion.

Just No.

For his part, Han felt she was being foolish.

However, since it had never felt part of his future to marry, it didn't concern him that he might never experience the joy of nurturing a child of his own into adulthood.

Then Leia had come along and turned at least the marriage part of Han's destiny upside down.

Whether he might do the same with her thoughts on parenthood, remained to be seen.

"No, I was thinking about the honeymoon." He continued.

"I thought the honeymoon was all arranged." Leia said.

"It was. It _is_." Han corrected. "But we have time to call in on Rubicon on the way back."

He passed her a datapad open at a mountainside retreat.

"Stunning views, just look at the beautiful mountain ranges. Tranquil trails, for those long romantic walks you just know you'll want to take with me. A log cabin and real open fire for us to make love in front of." He ticked off the positives on his fingers as Leia scrolled through the text.

"And look!" She exclaimed. "The prize money on the sabaac tournament alone must be worth the course change."

"There's a sabaac game?" Han asked, innocently. "Well, I was only thinking of you honey. But if you want me to see if I can win us our fortune while we're there, I'll try not to let you down. I'd have to register before midnight, Coruscant time, if I wanted to take part though."

"You are _so_ transparent Han Solo!" Leia laughed.

She playfully slapped him and rose from her seat, heading toward their bedroom.

"Sweetheart." Han called, following quickly behind. "Whatcha doing?"

"I'm going to take a shower." She told him.

"What? Right now?" Han questioned.

"If you'd had half a dozen seamstresses hands up and down your body for the past hour, you'd feel like taking a shower too." She replied.

Han's mind wandered a moment, contemplating the half dozen seamstresses and when he looked up Leia was studying him, her hands on her hips.

"Hey." Han apologised, "I'm only human!"

Leia shook her head and continued all the way into their darkened bedroom, removing the belt around her waist as she went.

She immediately made her way over to the dresser, igniting the lamp on it's right hand side when she got there and watching as Han hastily sat on the edge of their bed, his hands moving something behind him.

"Just what are you up to?" She asked, suspiciously eyeing him through the dresser mirror.

"Me? I'm not up to anything." He answered without conviction.

"So, what's behind your back?" She queried, turning to face him.

"Nothing. Just my hands, see?" He held his open palms to her as if to prove they were empty.

"Seriously. What are you up to?" Her hands were on her hips again.

"Okay, okay!" Han said and pulled a red, heart shaped box from behind his back. "You got me. I bought you a little something on my last run."

"What is it?" She asked, a smile creeping across her lips.

"You'll have to open it to find out." He replied and placed the box on the bed beside him.

With trembling fingers, Leia carefully untied the white ribbon surrounding the package and lifted the lid. Slowly drawing back fine tissue Leia found her gift, in all it's silk and lace glory.

"It was supposed to be a surprise for our wedding night." Han explained. "You would slip out of the extraordinarily beautiful dress I know you'll be wearing, slip into these and after a suitable period of admiration, I would help you slip back out of them."

"There's...not a whole lot of material is there?" Leia commented, holding up a brief triangle of fabric.

"They're called 'panties'." Han clarified.

"And this..." Han lifted the second part of the garment to his chest. His large index fingers looped through the thinnest of straps. "Is called a 'brassiere', or 'bra' for short. They're all the rage on Sollus Three. They only had them in white or red. I figured white was probably safest and I had to pretty much guess at the size, but the sales assistant was very helpful."

"They're..." Leia's head spun, trying to think of an appropriate adjective. "Lovely."

"You know, if you tried them on now I'd have time to exchange them if they didn't fit." Han suggested.

"Oh no." Leia declined. "I couldn't. I mean, I wasn't even supposed to see them yet. It's probably terribly bad luck."

"That's the day before the wedding. This is the day before the day before the wedding. It'll be fine." Han pushed. "Look, I know a woman's wedding day is supposed to be the most perfect day of her life. And I know that the one person...other than me...you really wish could be there, can't. I just want the whole day to be as special as you are. From the moment you get up to a champagne breakfast with your girlfriends, right through the I do's to when you lie in my arms completely and utterly satiated."

"You've given this some thought haven't you?" Leia asked, trying to muster some enthusiasm. "I'll try them after my shower."

While Leia busied herself in the 'fresher, Han prepared for her return.

He grabbed the ice bucket and Corellian fizz from the kitchen and positioned it between the bedside cabinet and the bed. He placed the now empty gift box on the dresser, shutting down the lamp as he went and lighting the two either side of the bed before rolling back the covers and sprinkling rose petals across the sheet. He replaced the cover and stripped down to his shorts, sitting on the edge of the bed just in time for Leia to emerge from the bathroom wearing her new lingerie.

"Wow!" Han uttered, a lopsided grin spreading across his lips. "Come on over here into the light, I wanna get a real good look at this."

Hesitantly Leia walked over to stand between his open legs, his face at her chest level.

"Wow!" He repeated drinking in the soft silk panties trimmed with lace, a delicate ribbon tied at either hipbone clearly intended for ease of access. The bra covered the swell of her breasts in the most exquisite gossamer-fine silk, a piping of lace adding to it's beauty. And nestled between her breasts, a rose-hued diamanté.

For as long as Han had considered himself privileged enough to share intimate moments with her, Leia had worn what had originally been military issued underwear. Or 'skimpies' as just about everyone called them.

They consisted of a vest for the men, or camisole for women incorporating supportive cups for comfort and mid thigh shorts which Han considered the most sexless things he had ever seen.

"Wow!" He said again, resting his hands on Leia's hips and looking up at her.

"How do I look?" Leia asked.

"Leia, you look beautiful!" Han confirmed.

"Sexy?" She then asked. "Do I look sexy to you?"

"You have to ask!" Han exclaimed, feeling the throb from inside his shorts.

Leia nodded and took a small step away from him.

"Leia?" Han asked, seeing her expression change. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Jabba liked his slaves to look sexy for his guests." She answered. "So he dressed me in something, not so dissimilar to this. You didn't really see it, you still had the eyes of a newborn back then."

"Son of a Sith!" Han cursed himself. "I'm so sorry Leia. It's not that I forgot. It's just...well, it's just..."

"It's just that skimpy, revealing clothing is considered titillating not voyeuristic." She finished for him.

"I just wanted..." He stopped, realising he was killing the moment twice over. "Is that why you still wear those skimpies?"

"Partly. But I also like the smooth outline they give me." She answered truthfully.

"Then..." He rose and stepped closer. "A smooth outline you shall have."

Slipping his arms around her back he unclipped her bra and eased it from her shoulders, tossing it onto the dresser. Tugging the ribbons free, her panties quickly followed.

"This is your idea of a smooth outline?" Leia asked, a brow raised in amusement.

"No. This is my idea of trying to redeem the-night-before-the-night-before-we-get-married that I had so meticulously planned." Han told her.

"You planned this?" She queried.

"Well. Not your feelings of degradation or humiliation, no. But the rest..." He grinned down at her. "Is all me!"

He drew back the bed covers to reveal the rose petals scattered across the sheet.

"My lady." Han bowed, swept her into his arms and placed her gently onto what would ordinarily be his side of the bed.

"Rose petals?" Leia observed.

"Didn't you say making love with me was like lying in a bed of roses?" Han quipped, circling to her side of the bed, stripping off his shorts and jumping into bed beside her.

"They better not mark the sheets! I already have to sit through endless accounts of soiled laundry, I'm not sure I'll be able to contain myself if I have to hear about mysterious blotches on bedding." Leia moaned.

"Here." Han had filled a glass and handed one to her. "This should take your mind off of things. I wanted to get Champagne, but rumour has it we're having a couple of cases delivered tomorrow for your not-quite-a-surprise Wedding Shower so I figured I'd save the credits, Corellian wine's just fine." He chinked his glass to hers. "Besides, I thought we could spend the night-before-the-night-before the rest of our lives reliving our traditional homeworld values."

"Han, I have to tell you that sitting, naked, in bed with my fiancé on the eve of the eve of my Wedding is most definitely _not_ a tradition on Alderaan." She laughed.

"Really? It was pretty much a given on Corellia." He replied, sipping his wine. "So, tell me. How would you have spent your last hours as a single Princess?"

"Well, I probably would have shared an early dinner with my fiancé, his parents and my father. My fiancé and his entourage would then have retired, so that my father and I might have a final chance to discuss anything I needed to ask." She told him.

"Bit late for the father-daughter chat isn't it?" Han chuckled.

"You're thinking with your Corellian libido!" Leia chided. "Father wouldn't have been expected to talk to me about sexual matters. That was Mother's job. Or in her absence, my Aunts."

"Still a little late if you ask me. You think his parents were discussing the same thing with him?" Han complained.

"Unlikely. He would have received a concubine upon the announcement of our engagement to ensure his ability to perform his duties in the matrimonial bed." Leia explained and sipped her wine waiting for the inevitable question.

It wasn't long in coming.

"And would _you_ have received one too?" Han just couldn't help himself.

"Of course not." She assured him. "I would have been examined by a highly skilled medical team to ensure two things. One, that I was able to bear children and two, that my virtue was still in tact."

"You. Are. Kidding. Me!" He gaped.

"No." Leia said. "As a Princess I was expected to remain chaste until my wedding night. Carnal knowledge would have been seen as both a mortal and a moral sin. All part of the tradition flyboy."

Han topped their glasses up with wine and slipped his arm around her shoulders.

"On Corellia I think you'd be hard pressed to find a virgin on their wedding night." He reflected. "Male _or_ female."

"Do you remember your first time?"

"Oh yeah!"

"Tell me."

"Not much to tell. It kinda came and went...no pun intended." He replied.

"Please Han. You never talk to me about your life before the Rebellion, I feel like I hardly know you." She persisted.

"All right." He sighed. "But it aint much like Alderaan!"

Leia turned and snuggled into Han's chest, wrapping her arm around his torso. In response Han let his arm slide a little further down her back, his fingers splayed across her hip.

"For my fourteenth birthday, Garris, gave me a prostitute. She spent a whole week showing me every which way to please a woman." Han told her, referring to his years as a pirate slave. "That's why I'm so damn good at it." He added with relish.

"And so modest too." She commented.

"My first time..." Han's fingers began a lazy drawing on her hip. "That was something else! I'd had a few wet dreams I guess...I mean, I was fourteen after all. But I'd never had an actual naked woman standing right there in front of me. She told me she wasn't going to do a thing, that I was going to do it all. Hell, I thought I was going to blow my top right there and then! Then she told me to close my eyes and to touch myself. I remember laughing, kinda nervous like, but she said I should do it just like she told me to. So I did, all clumsy and trying not to drip anything over Garris's expensive cabin floor. Garris enjoyed a good beating and I didn't want to give him anything to take it out on me for."

Han took a sip of wine and Leia shifted more comfortably against him.

"She told me I couldn't possibly expect to satisfy a woman until I knew how to be satisfied myself. So I basically masturbated for around seven and half seconds before shooting my load into my fists. I vaguely remember collapsing to my knees and praying to the Gods I could keep anything from seeping out!"

Han put his glass on the bedside cabinet and raised Leia's chin so he could see her face.

"You turned on yet?" He asked with a broad grin.

"I can't tell you how close I am." Leia replied.

"Good. 'Cos the best is still to come." Han placed her glass beside his, wrapped his now free arm around her waist and guided them both down into the bed. "She helped me back to my feet, gave me a towel to dry myself off then lay herself down, spread-eagle in the middle of Garris's bed. She told me to kneel between her legs and that what I'd just done to myself with my hands, she was going to teach me to do to her."

"How romantic." Leia observed.

"So, like a good little birthday boy I did as I was told. I climbed on the bed and knelt between her thighs. Kept that towel handy too. If I didn't wanna mess up Garris's floor I sure as Hell didn't wanna go all gushy on his bed linen either! She told me again that she wasn't going to do anything, if I wanted to gratify her I was going to have to do it all myself."

"Such faith in one so young." Leia teased.

"Maybe she just saw my potential or my natural, raw talent." Han suggested, waggling his eyebrows.

"Or she took pity on a poor, orphaned slave." Leia countered.

"Whatever." Han shrugged. "She told me to get myself hard and to put myself inside her. Now sweetheart, I should explain that at fourteen it's a whole lot easier to get into that same state of arousal right after a jerk off than it is now. I don't want you thinking I've been holding out on you. I really do _need_ to take a nap right afterwards now, I didn't then."

"Are you hard yet?" Leia asked.

"Why Your Worship! Is it appropriate that a Princess ask her fiancé that question on the night-before-the-night-before her Wedding?" Han taunted.

"I was referring to your first sexual experience!" She replied.

"I'm like durasteel. And I ram my rod home like I'm firing proton torpedoes into a reactor core."

Leia started laughing, far harder than she intended.

"What?" He demanded.

"And were there as many fireworks as there were when Luke's proton torpedoes destroyed the Death Star?" She asked, still laughing.

"More!" Han asserted. "Between my seed blasting into her and her howling with every piercing lunge..."

Leia laughed harder still.

"Hey. You asked remember!" Han criticised.

"You tell a great story Han Solo." Leia said, her fingers brushing the hair from his face. "Now, how about you telling me what really happened?"

"You know how I hate talking about those days." He complained and nuzzled her neck, right below her ear.

"And you know how I love that you want to protect me from it." She answered, the sensation of his lips on her neck having the desired effect. "But I would much rather hear about it from your own lips than read it or see it reported on the holonet. And you must realise by now that in 48 hours, you will be even hotter gossip fodder than you already are."

"Okay." Han said and rolled back onto the bed. "I get it. I do. It's just that you're right up there on your shiny Princess pedestal and I'm right down here, pitching around in the filthy slimy gutter."

Leia propped herself on her left elbow and leaned her chin on his chest.

"Garris _did_ give me a prostitute." Han explained. "Though he was never generous enough to let us use his cabin. He picked her up in the Outer Rim Territories transporting cargo from one port to another. She was part of the cargo."

"He was transporting slaves?" She asked.

"Garris would transport _anything_ providing the price was right and paid in full." Han told her. "If she had a name, I never got to hear it. One of the crew mentioned it was my birthday. My fourteenth birthday, which was like a coming of age to Garris. He told her to teach me everything she knew and in return he'd make sure none of the crew mistreated her. She was actually really nice. She knew I was a virgin and when it came down to it, that first time, she was about as tender a lover as I think I've ever known."

Han let a finger trace a soft line around Leia's jaw.

"Well, with the exception of perhaps one other." He added with a gentle, loving smile. "That first time, she brought me to climax inside her. Which wasn't easy I can tell you. I was fourteen, inexperienced and very, very eager. After that, she used her hands...her mouth...her breasts...even, well even her ass. Over that week she really did teach me everything she knew and pretty much every which way there was to please a woman. Then we arrived at our next port and she was taken away by her new Master."

"You never saw her again?" Leia wondered.

"It's not like we exchanged personal details or anything. She did what Garris told her so she wouldn't be raped by him or any of the rest of the crew. Garris knew what he was doing. Like I said, I was fourteen and on most worlds that's considered under age. You have any idea what an under age male prostitute can make for his Master?" Han looked her directly in the eye.

"You didn't...he didn't make you...?" Leia's jaw dropped open, unable to finish her question.

"I managed to get out before it came to that." Han reassured her. "But Garris was a brutal Master with a penchant for the lash. If it had come down to me screwing an Imp for a credit and clean pair of skimpies, I'd have taken the Imp over the prospect of a real good beating at the hand of Garris Shrike any day."

Han leaned forward and tenderly kissed her.

"You see why I don't like talking about those times?" Han asked, pulling her tightly into his embrace and trying to soothe away her realisation of just how tough a start in life he'd had.

"I love you Han Solo." She said, squeezing him tightly.

"I know you do Princess. And I love you too." He told her.

They lay in each other's arms, enjoying the peace and tranquillity of their tender embrace. Not a cuddle leading anywhere other than each simply being with the other.

"What are your plans for tomorrow?" Han asked after a time.

"I need you to leave right after breakfast. The girls are due to arrive around ten." Leia said.

"Tell Winter to stay outta my stuff will ya! Last time the girls came over it took me a fortnight to get everything back straight."

"Won't be easy, she's offered to cook lunch for us." Leia told him.

"Great! That'll be the kitchen trashed then." He sighed.

"Then after lunch, they're going to give me a pedicure, a manicure and a facial." She continued.

"A facial! The day before the Wedding?" Han was incredulous. "Don't you let Daala touch you, that woman is _not_ your friend."

"Pinching your butt once, doesn't make her my enemy either." Leia scolded.

"She goosed me _twice_ and trust me, not in a nice-girl way. She meant it." He warned.

"Well, it'll not be so much a facial as a cleanse and tone. Winter will see to that. Then we'll have a glass of Champagne before heading out for a couple of drinks in Galactic City." Leia concluded. "What about you?"

"Luke and I are gonna hit some of the clubs with a couple of the boys from Rogue." He boasted.

"Which clubs?" She sounded unhappy. "Which Rogues?"

"Oh, you know. Nowhere special. Couple of drinks, maybe a hand or two of sabaac. It's been ages since Luke, Wedge, Wes and I went out." He tried to disguise Wedge and Wes with a feigned cough.

Propping herself up on her elbow again, Leia poked Han in the chest with a particularly sharp fingernail.

"Wedge and Wes!" Her eyes took on a hard glint. "So help me Han Solo if you turn up at the alter smelling of stale tobacco, cheap alcohol or even cheaper women, I swear to you I will leave you standing there and elope with Isolder!"

"Hey!" He protested, a hand covering the imaginary injury to his heart. "It's me! Besides, if your brother has anything to do with it we'll be tucked up in our jammies by supper time."

"See that you are. I want you looking your best on our Wedding day." Leia cautioned and settled back into his warm embrace.

"Of course, on Corellia I'd probably have ended up down some dark, sleazy alleyway, drunk out of my skull with my pants around my ankles and some nameless hooker..."

"Yes, yes..." Leia interrupted. "Thank you for that all too vivid account of how I saved you from a life of debauchery and depravity."

"I suppose your day would have been very different too."

"On Alderaan, I would have been woken by my handmaidens. After a leisurely breakfast in bed, they would have removed my nightwear and bathed me." Leia reflected.

"Your handmaidens were all female? No positions available for poor, orphaned boy slaves?" Han asked with a twinkle in his eye.

"There was one eunuch, but even he wasn't allowed in my bedchamber." Leia smirked.

"Eunuch eh?" Han's twinkle fading. "Think I'll pass. I'd fail the interview."

"Then the maidens would absent themselves and my Aunts would take over."

"Er...just for clarification, are you still naked at this point?" Han queried. "It's just, it seems to me like an awful lot of people seeing you in the buff considering your intended is still being kept in the dark."

"Don't worry about him. He'll get his in due course." Leia confirmed. "I'd dress and after lunch, my Aunts would spend the rest of the day preparing me for my Wedding night. The traditions for which are very specific."

"Should I be committing these to memory?" He asked.

"On our first night, we must sleep together completely naked." She told him. "This is to show that we enter our marriage with nothing but ourselves and the rest we build upon together."

"Liking it so far." Han said, approvingly.

"You'll give your gift to me during the ceremony." She held up her left hand and indicated where he would place her wedding band. "And on the Wedding night, I'd be expected to give you mine."

"I have a feeling I'm going to like this part even more." He grinned.

"However..." Leia continued, interrupting his daydreams. "Since you've already ravaged that particular 'ring', I've decided to give you a wedding band also. You okay with that?"

Han smiled to himself. In less than 48 hours, he would be her husband and she, his wife. That she would wear a wedding band, placed on her hand by Han was an unspoken expectation. But for her to want him to wear a matching band came as both a surprise and an honour.

He was not who she had been expected to marry. Many had been against the proposed union. Many more had thought it nothing more than a fleeting fancy. An innocent infatuation by a young innocent girl, that time and experience would extinguish.

Nobody thought they would last this long.

And absolutely _nobody_ thought they were actually _in love_.

"Yeah." Han answered, still smiling. "I'm okay with that."

"And if you behave yourself, I might tell you the secrets of the braids." She said, leading him down another obvious path.

"Now I know they don't come off and live on a hook like your friend Winter's." He teased.

"Don't be mean! You know how she lost her hair." Leia scowled.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry. So what's this 'secret of the braids'?" He asked.

"Traditionally, my Aunts would have shown me how to braid my hair so that only my husband knew my inner most thoughts. Braids worn a certain way, would tell him when I was ovulating...or menstruating...or horny!" She said with a grin. "But Winter told me the secrets after she found out we were sleeping together."

"How'd she find that out?" Han asked, puzzled.

He'd been particularly careful around Winter knowing her intense disapproval of his relationship with Leia.

"She said she could smell you on me." Leia told him.

"Did she say if smelled good?" Han grinned.

"She said you smelled like wet Wookiee fur." She goaded. "I presume, at least, she knew I was sleeping with you and didn't think it was Chewie!"

"And you want me to be nicer to her." Han shook his head. "So what is it your braids are saying right now?"

"Now?" She propped herself on one elbow, seemed to consider, then straddled his stomach. "They're saying 'how I long for my soon-to-be husband to let my hair down and run his big, manly fingers through my mane'."

"They have a lot to say." Han observed.

"I have a lot of braids." Leia curved an eyebrow at him, seductively licking her lips.

"Well, could you tell your braids I can't reach them with you all the way up there?" His hands reached half heartedly as if to prove the point.

Leia's eyes moved heavenward a moment and she smiled. "They say, I should lean forward, so you can reach."

Lying flat across his upper body, Han eased her a little lower so he could get a better view of her hair. Plus because he liked the feel of her hips against his.

"They got anything else to say?" He asked, starting to remove pins and untangle plaits.

"They do have a question. And come to think of it, so do I." She said, running a line of small, soft kisses across his chest.

"How did I get so masterful in the art of un-braiding? Simple, I started with the small, soft curls and moved my way up." He answered crudely.

"They were wondering, and so was I, about those 'every which way there is to please a woman' and whether or not you'd used them all up on me yet."

The index and middle finger of both hands captured his nipples and teased them erect.

Finishing his task, Han discarded the pins in her bedside drawer and sank his fingers deep into her chestnut tresses.

"I might still have one or two tucked up my sleeve. Gotta save something for the Wedding night." He told her, drawing her face toward him and meeting her lips halfway in a passionate kiss.


End file.
